ABOUT US
Femfinance is a social fintech leveraging mobile-based services for women business owners' economic empowerment in Sub-Saharan Africa.
Financial independence for women means greater autonomy and control over their lives and that of their families. A lack of gender-disaggregated data capturing the barriers and challenges experienced by women entrepreneurs makes it challenging to tackle firmly held notions that women businesses are not 'credit-worthy.' Globally, women business owners lack the necessary skills, resources, access to networks, and capital to grow their businesses successfully.
Women's sustainable economic empowerment will require the reach of digital financial tools to save, obtain loans, make investments, and grow their businesses to get themselves and their families out of inherited cycles of poverty. Femfinance aims to empower and support women-owned businesses through research, tailored digital financial literacy training, and finance.
MISSION
Our mission is to reduce the gender gap in mobile financial services in low-income African countries by pursuing financial inclusion, unlocking significant socio-economic opportunities for female entrepreneurs.
VISION
Femfinance connects female entrepreneurs with financial resources. Our vision is to provide much needed financial literacy skills training and credit as early as possible.
GOAL
Femfinance strives to improve the lives of female entrepreneurs and their families by building their financial knowledge.
Our goal is to equip female entrepreneurs with the necessary skills to make financially informed choices through leveraging mobile financial services as a gateway to economic security and empowerment.
OBJECTIVE
Our objective is to improve access to mobile and digital financial services for female entrepreneurs.
OUR TEAM
Founder
SUHUUR HUSSEIN-ISMAIL
Suhuur has extensive experience in East Africa’s private sector digital financial service economy, coupled with over ten years of International development professional expertise. She began working in post-conflict and national reconstruction efforts on the Horn, on behalf of the Danish refugee council (DRC), FCA (Kirkon Ulkomaanapu), Care International, Norwegian Church Aid (NCA), and UNOPS.
Suhuur later worked closely with Telecoms operators in Somalia on Anti-Money laundering (AML) compliance policies and advising on women and mobile money product development. Suhuur holds a B.Sc. Econ in Social policy & Sociology from Cardiff University and MSc in International Development from Bath University.
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
AMAN NARAIN
Board Member
Aman leads new payment ecosystems for Google Pay, working across the financial services industry with regulators to launch innovative and market-leading payment solutions. Before this, he led Digital Ventures for Schroders, responsible for digital channels, marketing, distribution alliances, and FinTech. It launched the world's first chatbot by an Asset Manager for its intermediary clients.
Before these roles, Aman spent fifteen years with Standard Chartered, where he was Global Head of Digital Banking for with responsibility for all direct to consumer channels, including Online, Mobile, Social & ATM. Aman works closely with start-ups and is an active Board Advisor and Investor. A strong advocate of diversity in the workplace, Aman is committed to building gender-balanced leadership teams and has pioneered progressive work cultures collaborating with leading brands and the Singapore Government. Aman graduated from Ohio Wesleyan University and completed his MBA at INSEAD.
MOHAMMED A. YASSIN
Board Member
Mohammed A. Yassin is a financial consultant in the field of development. Before retiring, Mohammed worked with African Development Bank (ADB) on the Abidjan Ivory coast for twenty years, where he held several positions with progressive responsibilities. Mohammed's most important bank roles were Division Chief of bank group budgets, Deputy Director of International cooperation, and Deputy Treasurer. Mohammed holds a bachelor's degree in Business from Miami University in Ohio and a master's degree in public administration from Harvard University. Before joining the African Development Bank, Mohammed worked as an external auditor with Price Waterhouse and an internal auditor with Champion International in Ohio. Mohammed has also worked for the UN mission to East Timor under programs implemented by the UN, the IMF, and the Australian technical assistance.
MOHAMMED ISMAIL
Board Member
Mohammed Ismail leads DP World's Business Development and Project Implementation for the Middle East and Africa. Before joining DP World, Mohammed held senior roles at GE, where he established GE's first office in the Horn of Africa, the Dubai Mercantile Exchange, and McKinsey & Company. Mohammed holds a Ba in Natural Sciences & MSci in Theoretical Physics from the University of Cambridge, an MSc in Development Economics from the University of Bristol, and an MBA from INSEAD.